I only know his Marvel stuff, which is all mediocre to terrible
And Spiderman Blue is … ?
That’s too bad, I was really diggin The Ultimates (only buying the TPBs though).
Ultimate Ironman comes out in TPB in a few weeks, BTW.
edit: Actually, I just got word it shipped today.
I loved his Batman stuff, but agree some of the Marvel stuff sucks.
Didn’t read it. But his Wolverine/Gambit mini with Tim Sale was some of the worst drek I’ve ever wasted time on. He also wrote a bunch of x-men books in the 1990s (Cable, X-man, X-force, which weren’t terrible, but just kinda bland with nothing ever happening, and that’s even juding by 1990s xbook standards, which is saying something).
He also wrote the relaunched “heroes reborn” Avengers for the second half (which was essentially Marvel’s first attempt at the “ultimate universe”) and he was terrible – now he’s basically being given another chance to do the same thing? Big mistake by Marvel.
Hush I bought for the art. The plot got pretty retarded with a bunch of false leads and nonesense that you just had to surrender yourself to and realize that there was no point in trying to figure anything out yourself because Jeph wasn’t going to give you any real clues, he was just going to pull the conclusion out of no where. I’m not saying he made it up as he went along, but when there is no legitimate way for the reader to put the pieces together, he might as well have; there’s no difference in the end result. To be clear, my basic impression was positive, but it was just a mindless but beautiful tour of Batman’s world.
And the fact that plenty of the “World’s greatest Detective’s” other mysteries are equally impenetrable until the final issue mitigated the disappointment, but it’s no excuse. See the first arc in Fables or even Identity Crisis as two good examples of how to do mysteries, and those are just the two I can think of that I’ve read, I’m sure there are more.
I’ve read Long Halloween, and I have the feeling it was probably the best thing I’ve read of Loeb’s, but I don’t remember much about it. Just a hunch there basically.
Next up, Superman/Batman. Jeph delivers, in much the same way as Hush, on getting us into lots of action with lots of supporting characters, and when combined with McGuiness’s art, it makes for another nice mindless romp through DC, but there’s zero characterization outside of the title characters, and he’s on a treadmill there. Every other scene is exactly like this:
Batman monologging: “Clark always was a such and such, that’s why he’ll never make it through this”
Superman monologging: “Bruce always was <the opposite of what Batman just said>, that’s why he’s not going to pull this off”
And then–surprise!–they work together wonderfully and show the world what a super-duper team they make! That’s it. Over and over again, every issue. He’s managed to make contrast flat.
So it’s up there with Hush on fun because of just about everything except how it’s actually written. We could get the exact same results from anyone if the plot was dictated editorially.
Supergirl 1-5? Absolutely wretched in every way, but I guess I don’t know what I’m allowed to criticize there. Jeph’s son died recently, and I know it affected at least the scheduling of the book; how much affect it had on the actual content and how far back it was impacting his work are things I don’t know.
So the bottom line is that Loeb isn’t a good writer. He just delivers functional scripts to move things from A to B to C, and sometimes the places it takes us are interesting, but it’s no better than what any of us could do in our imagination.
I’m going to keep reading Superman/Batman, because I can live with that for that book (and it’s also been a help, more so early on, in just introducing me to a lot of the DC universe I was unfamiliar with), it’s never been anything but a switch-off-your-brain and enjoy the ride type of book.
But The Ultimates? One of the best books going in either DC or Marvel’s universes? I don’t want an average writer. That’s where all the hate is coming from.
…especially when that writer already had a shot at a “relaunched vision/alternate universe” Avengers, and did a terrible job.
Jeph’s son died recently
WHAT? Oh, holy shit, no wonder. I didn’t care for Supergirl, but with this weighing on his shoulders, all is forgiven. Poor bastard.
Oh, I just went looking for an article for you, and apparently it was in June of 2005, so a little further back than I realized. Anyway, here’s an article about an upcoming issue of Superman/Batman that’s sort of dedicated to him, or made by him, or inspired by him, or something: http://www.silverbulletcomics.com/news/story.php?a=1237
While someone else has covered how Loeb peaked with Long Halloween, and Hush ended up being an excuse to get Jim Lee to draw every major villain, I’ll add one extra bit of Loeb-ness: he’s an exec producer/writer for Lost now. Take that how you will.
The Superman/Batman issue was scripted by Loeb’s son, but the script was never fully finished. It’s been picked up and finished by Loeb and 25 others.